Pathogens, real-time detection

Use of optical fiber biosensors for real-time detection of biowarfare agents (BWA) especially those of bacterial cells, toxins, or spores in the air, soil, or environment has been investigated by the Naval Research Laboratory (Taitt et al, 2005). In addition, many laboratories are also employing fiber optic biosensors for detection of wide varieties of foodbome pathogens, which are discussed below. 

Raman spectroscopy has also been applied for the extrinsic diagnostic detection of medically relevant pathogens. The use of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) has been shown to be a powerful tool for the rapid, near-real-time detection... 

Makino, S. I. Cheun, H. I. Application of the real-time PCR for the detection of airborne microbial pathogens in reference to the anthrax spores. J. Microbiol. Meth. 2003,53,141-147. 

Fukushima, H. Tsunomori, Y. Seki, R. Duplex real-time SYBR Green PCR assays for detection of 17 species of food- or waterborne pathogens in stools. J. Clin. Microbiol. 2003,41,5134-5146. 

Kuboniwa, M. Amano, A. Kimura, K. R. Sekine, S. Kato, S. Yamamoto, Y. Okahashi, N. Iida, T. Shizukuishi, S. Quantitative detection of periodontal pathogens using real-time polymerase chain reaction with TaqMan probes. Oral Microbiol. Immunol. 2004,19,168-176. 

As mentioned in the first section, the use of real-time PCR for high sensitivity detection of relatively limited numbers of analytes is well established in the field thanks in particular to the use of the Ruggedized Advanced Pathogen Identification Device (R.A.P.I.D Idaho Technology, Salt Lake City, UT) by the US military in the last few years. Samples must be manually prepared to separate oligonucleotides from other sample matrix components prior to the analysis, but the amplification of target DNA can be accomplished in 30-60 minutes and the resulting limits of detection are very... 

J.R. Uhl, C.A. Bell, L.M. Sloan, M.J. Espy, T.F. Smith, J.E. Rosenblatt and F.R. Cockerill, Application of rapid-cycle real-time polymerase chain reaction for the detection of microbial pathogens the Mayo-Roche rapid anthrax test, Mayo Clin. Proc., 77 (2002) 673-680. 

M. Panning, M. Asper, S. Kramme, H. Schmitz and C. Drosten, Rapid detection and differentiation of human pathogenic orthopox viruses by a fluorescence resonance energy transfer real-time PCR assay, Clin. Chem., 50 (2004) 702-708. 

Strausbaugh, C. A., Overturf, K., and Koehn, A. C. (2005). Pathogenicity and real-time PCR detection of Fusarium spp. in wheat and barley roots. Can. J. Plant Pathol, in, 430-438. 

Higgins, J.A., S. Nasarabadi, J.S. Karns, D.R. Shelton, M. Cooper, A. Gbakima, and R.P. Koopman. A handheld real time thermal cycler for bacterial pathogen detection. Biosens Bioelectron. 2003, 18(9), 1115-1123... 

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